Cascina Lieto

Cascina Lieto was founded in 2018 from an idea by Rie and Hiroto Sasaki, in Castiglione Tinella, in the heart of the hills always most suited to the cultivation of Moscato grapes. They call them "the borders of the Langhe," and here the hills are very high and steep. In summer, there is a good temperature range, and the grapes ripen, developing aromas and maintaining good acidity. Hiroto has a long history in the wine world. He has lived in Italy since 1997, in Rome until 2016, then in Piedmont. His first job involves exporting artisanal wines and gastronomic products to Japan. In the past, he was a ski instructor in Japan, in Nagano. With his wife Rie, he bought a small old vineyard with an attached farmhouse to be renovated. Since the vineyard and its fruits are the heart of the project, they decided to start work by building the winery. Small in size, but with infinite care. The grape is mainly Moscato. The owned vineyard is over 55 years old. Another rented vineyard is located in Madonna di Como, and it is 35 years old. There are also Freisa, Barbera, Nebbiolo, and Cortese to complete the lineup. The first year of production was 2018, with a number of bottles barely reaching 600. It increased to 2000 in the second year and stabilized around 4000 bottles produced last year. Rie and Hiroto dream of reaching 10,000 bottles, but it takes time and more space in the cellar, given that everything, or almost everything, ages for 2 years in the bottle before being released. The manifesto of the project is maximum commitment and continuous research to do better. It's all about feeling. From grape harvesting, Hiroto explains that he waits for the seed to be ripe, crunchy, brown, to harvest perfectly ripe grapes with excellent acidity. In the cellar, fermentations are slow. Everything macerates and bubbles gently. No analyses are done, not even babo levels are checked. They taste. A bit of fiberglass, a couple of tubs, some steel tanks. From this year, a Garbelotto vat, some demijohns, and some used barriques. The equipment is varied, but everything has an order and everything makes sense.

Credits ©: Sottoscala SRL